"Judaism is a spiritual process based on continuous attempts throughout history to find answers to the perennial questions of human life. It is not a religion of dogmatic formulations approved by powers with the authority to define belief. Rather, every literate and knowledgeable Jew has the right to define Jewish belief as he or she sees fit within the framework of Judaism. Judaism is a continual debate about what Jews believe. This does not mean that "anything goes" in the arena of Jewish belief. There are certain sacred myths that establish central themes and fundamental beliefs. Judaism is sufficiently fluid and dynamic to encourage the continuous redefinition of its own sacred myths. These myths inspire a continuing dialogue among committed Jews. Change is ongoing in light of individual interpretation and the understanding of each age. The compelling and enduring beliefs survive and keep Judaism alive. The diversity and vitality of Jewish belief are part of what makes it worthwhile to be a Jew."

Sermon

         I have shared with you before that I began my life in America with the Engels, a Jewish family on Long Island, New York. Every Friday, they had a Shabbat family dinner. The Engel children looked forward to it as they excitedly set the table with the special Shabbat silver. The dinner always began with the blessing of the wine: "Baruh atah adonai, elohainu meleh haolam, Boreh peree hagafen." This meant, "Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe who createst the fruit of the vine." I am certain that this weekly ritual created a strong family bond grounded in a shared religious identity.

         After dinner, we all went to the temple. All the prayers were in Hebrew and most were sung by the cantor. But the sermon was in English. The thoroughly liberal Reform Rabbi addressed the Vietnam peace movement and the Women's Liberation movement. The Church of England sermons had never been as exciting as this! It seemed to me that the Judaism as practiced by the Engels, and presumably all Reform Jews, was an ongoing celebration and examination of life!

         Apart from Passover, no celebration engaged me more than Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the 10-day Jewish New Year observation, characterized by at least one full day of deep reflection on one's life and atonement and restitution for any harm done. It seemed to me then and now that Rosh Hashanah is a psychologically healthy acknowledgment and that humankind needs a time for reflection. After all, even Socrates said (in Plato's Apology), "An unexamined life is not worth living." What do you think?

         Yom Kippur, the solemn day of reflection for Jews, was last Monday. Yom Kippur ends Rosh Hashanah, the New Year festivities. It has ancient roots from the time of the first covenant, that is, the Ten Commandments. In the Book of Leviticus [Lev.23:23-25], we read, And the Lord said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blasts of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work, and you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord."

         Many current practices of Rosh Hashanah have their roots in ancient Babylonion myth. For example, the Day of Judgment, is the day when Marduk, the king of kings, judged the people and wrote their fate in the Book of Life. The Jews added the tradition of the scapegoat: a goat was to carry away the sins of the entire community deep into the desert. This is not done any more, but the shofar horn is blown to encourage people to wake up to their shortcomings. Each Jew actively examines his or her life for the past year, repents misdeeds, tries to make amends, and vows to do better in the coming year.

         It may seem strange to Unitarian Universalists to believe in a myth to the extent that we interpret our lives in the light of its story. Nevertheless, as we heard in the reading, the later tradition of the scholar Rabbis encouraged individual interpretation of the myths and their application to the problems of life. Jews are free to interpret the myths for themselves. Perhaps we prefer to engage parable stories and our Principles instead. Nevertheless, understanding how others work with their myths will help us to understand their religion if we can see that the lessons that come out of their myths are simply a way they choose to interpret how to live the best they can. We notice that Christians interpreted Jesus' death on the cross as atonement for all the sins of humankind, rather like the scapegoat. This ignores the fact that hundreds of thousands of people were crucified in this way.

         The President of our Unitarian Universalist Association, the Reverend Bill Sinkford, has encouraged us to deepen our religious life by seeking a religious language of reverence and awe. For many decades now, we have avoided any traditional religious language such as grace, sin, or atonement. What would such a language sound like for us.

         Besides our seven Principles that we always publish in our Order of Service each week, Unitarian Universalists have six sources from which we are invited to draw our inspiration. I call them our scripture. One source is Jewish and Christian teachings. But the first source is (and I'll say it slowly so you can notice whether it moves you in some way): "Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life." This is my own a major "scripture".

         We have these fine sounding beliefs that mean little if we do not engage them in our thinking. But how do we do that?

         Because we are holding the forum for gay and lesbian civil marriage this week, I asked myself, "Which Principles are we living out by holding this forum?" I answered myself, "Since gay and lesbian men and women have been discriminated against for thousand of years and have had to hide their authentic self from the entire world and have been forced to live a lie just to make the majority feel comfortable, then for me we are engaging both the first and second Principles. To remind us, these are the first and second Principles, "The inherent worth and dignity of every person" and "Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations." If we did not hold this forum when we had the opportunity to do so, I would say that we would be violating these two Principles.

         For the foundational "scripture" for this thinking, I personally, look to the "Transcending mystery and wonder…" because I feel mysteriously called to follow the Principles. I could also say that Jewish and Christian scripture call me to love my neighbor as myself and holding this forum is in accordance with this Great Commandment. This is theological thinking. This is struggling with life's problems and opportunities. And further, I believe that I am helping to atone for the sins of past generations. I also want you to know how proud I am that the Board of Governors of this church voted unanimously to hold this forum, without discussion. It was simply a "no brainer," a good opportunity for them as a body, to act upon our Principles as a religious institution. They embodied our first two Principles in their decision-making.

         In an effort to restore some religious language, let us look at this word atonement, which is central to Rosh Hashanah and to the deep self-examination that Jews must do at this time. They must confess to themselves or another person their wrong doings (or their sins) and sorrow for these and perform restitution if possible. And what is the reason for this? The answer is embedded in the word "Atonement." Let us split Atonement up into At-one-ment. Being sorry and making restitution restores the individual to his or her true self of being in a place of grace or lovingkindness. We could say that we restore ourselves to that part of us that is divine so that we may feel at one with the grace that is our natural state of being when we live reflectively.

         Perhaps reframing the meaning of the word atonement to "at-one-ment" will give us a language and meaning we can use for our period of reflection once a year and perhaps using lovingkindness to mean grace will help as well. A similar process to Rosh Hashanah is the Christian Lent but we might find 40 days a bit much.

         Perhaps the process of at-one-ment may not seem necessary to us. Personally, I believe that if we set aside one time per year to reflect on what we'd like to be sorry about, it would give us and our children an opportunity to restore ourselves. I was always conscious of this when I was raising my son. He often got himself in a bunch of trouble and his dad and I were always careful to let him restore himself. But once a year wasn't enough!

         The important thing here is for us not to be reactive to religious language. The process of at-one-ment can be useful to restore oneself at difficult times in our lives and to allow others to do the same. So let us practice using the Principles for life interpretation, and using old religious language in a new way for a deeper way of being religious. The Universe is awesome. Let us speak of it with reverence. May our lives be made new and better as we struggle to express our religious journey to one another in language of reverence and awe.